2015-11-05 52 0

Thu 5 Nov 2015 in Cambridge, UK: 52.1853320, 0.1377582 geohashing.info google osm bing/os kml crox

Location

A small lawn, just within the grounds of Homerton College, Cambridge.

Participants

• Benjw
• PaintedJaguar
• Tongs/B and Tongs/F

Plans

• Benjw's office is less than a mile away, so he will pop over mid-afternoon -- about 2:30 or 3pm ish.
• Tongs/B can make it now, either 5.30pm-6pm-ish or can even wander over any time after about 9pm (I live in central-ish Cambridge). Does anyone want to meet?
• PaintedJaguar might or might not be able to manage a post-evening-out visit on the way home, sometime after 11:30pm!

Expedition

Benjw

Very easy. I left work on foot at about 2:30, strolled half a mile up Hills Road -- passing the 2013-08-05 52 0 hashpoint about 180 metres from today's -- then turned into Homerton College through the front gate and followed the GPS arrow around the visitors' car-parking spaces (all empty) to a small piece of lawn just in front of the building entrance. I wasn't sure whether the college had a rule about not treading on the grass (as it's a new college, and didn't seem to have any signs up, probably not) but just in case, I didn't. However, standing on the concrete border around the grass, I was able to get within one metre, so that was more than enough to claim the hashpoint as reached.

It was a far more urban point than many in this graticule, with extensive (or perhaps not) views of the car park to the east, the lawn and building to the south, the main entrance of the building to the west, and bicycle racks and a hedge (which contained one slightly battered and probably abandoned bicycle) to the north. Unfortunately I forgot to bring a camera to work today, so after taking in these pleasant scenes, I simply left and walked back to work. Since I drove to work this morning, with a view to grocery shopping afterwards, I won't claim the walk geohash ribbon for this one, and at marginally under 800 metres it was perhaps a bit far to claim any sort of cubicle hash. Next time.

Tongs

Absurdly easy. We met at 5.10pm at the train station, walked over the railway bridge, and got to the car park at Homerton College. As others noted, Tongs/B's fear of trespass was unnecessary, and certainly no cover stories were needed (though those that were contributed were noted beforehand, just in case). The GPS (also unnecessary) led us to a thirty-metre walk across the car park toward a brightly-lit building. The hashpoint was on a small lawn, around a metre from its edge. We reached it around 5.30pm. Afterwards, we headed off to an excellent chemistry lecture by Dr. Andy Szydło, with more smoke flashes and bangs than could be even be seen on Midsummer Common.

PaintedJaguar

Equally easy. Walked into the car park at about 23:40, doubtless trying overly hard to appear sober despite having had several beers during the evening, headed for the target lawn, got the photo, left and headed home. There were plenty of other people returning to the college and wandering around the grounds having had a night out.

Photos

PaintedJaguar

• 

  Proof!

• 

  Main entrance to Homerton College; the hashpoint was on the grassy area in the centre of the photo.

Tongs

• 

  A screenshot of the GPS receiver. Backlight required.

• 

  Immediately preceding the sixth photo attempt, F and B realise looking at each other and not directly into the flash yields marginally better results.

• 

  B shows his ineptitude at taking geohashing selfies and his facial subcutaneous fat, while F looks more photogenic with his bicycle, in front of the same building depicted in PaintedJaguar's picture.

Achievements

• Land Geohash